>"the house" being the church, where you can get on the right side of >God and find decent people to endure/wait out the next few decades >with, like friendly strangers in a bus station; until you can >finally shake the dirt of this worthless world off your feet >and get on to your real reward, your real existence... >>again, meh. but that's my reading. *shrug*

Well, yes, it's just that I think that reading is a bit more St. Augustine than 20th-century Southern gospel (which is more along the lines of "find Jesus and get your shit together").

I mean, it's all much of a muchness to me, I prefer to interpret the chorus as a curling metaphor.